Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Trump in Portland
I am alarmed by what federal agents are doing in Portland. In short, according to the New York Times, here is what is going on:
Federal agents in Portland have snatched protesters off the streets and thrown them into unmarked vehicles without explaining why they were being detained or arrested, according to some of those who have been seized. Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, has called it “a blatant abuse of power,” and the city’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, has called it “an attack on our democracy.” The state attorney general has filed a lawsuit seeking a restraining order against the federal agents for what she called unlawful tactics.
First, some context.
It isn't unusual for federal agencies to focus their attention on certain cities and certain crimes. For example, those projects have included gun reduction efforts in Richmond and narcotics interdiction in Miami. The bare fact that federal agents are taking on what are essentially state cases in defined localities is nothing new.
What is different, though, is that those efforts are usually conducted in close collaboration with local authorities, who welcome the extra manpower in addressing discrete problems. For many of us, even with these kinds of cooperative efforts, this raises a federalism issue (not to mention an over-incarceration issue), but because of the resources of federal agencies, it happens.
That isn't the case in Portland. So that's a double whammy-- a federalism issue, compounded by the fact that the federal project is contrary to the wishes of the locals.
And, of course, there is the problem of federal agents not being identifiable.
For conservatives who believe in federalism and in accountability-- which is most of the conservatives I know-- there should be real red flags with this project.
